The influence of founders’ human capital on the performance of new technology-based firms in China, South Korea and Japan: an exploratory study

ABSTRACT

Western-based research suggests a modest influence of founders’ human capital on the business performance of new technology-based firms (NTBFs). Our exploratory, longitudinal study of 40 NTBFs in China, South Korea and Japan reveals that the human capital of their founders helps them to acquire executive talent, finance and customers, and thereby strongly enhances business performance. Furthermore, we find that East Asian NTBF founders leverage their human capital through networks with former colleagues and business partners in order to access key resources. These findings can be explained by cultural background factors such as social stratification and relational orientation.

KEYWORDS:

• New technology-based firms
• human capital
• business performance
• China
• South Korea
• Japan

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea [NRF-2017S1A2A2041806]; Korea University Business School; Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing, China [cstc2020jcyj-msxmX0245].

Notes on contributors

Martin Hemmert

Martin Hemmert is Professor of International Business at Korea University. His research interests include international comparative studies of management systems, innovation systems and entrepreneurial ecosystems, organizational boundaries of firms and inter-organizational research collaborations, with a focus on East Asian countries.

Adam R. Cross

Adam R. Cross is Professor of International Business and Associate Dean of Learning and Teaching in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), China. His research currently focuses on the internationalization of Asian multinational firms, start-up entrepreneurial ecosystems, technology adoption and user innovation, with China serving as a country context for much of this work.

Ying Cheng

Ying Cheng is an Associate Professor at Chongqing University, China. Her research focuses on entrepreneurial teams, top management teams in early-stage business development, and business incubators/accelerators.

Jae-Jin Kim

Jae-Jin Kim is an Associate Professor of the school of business administration at Hoseo University and teaches international business, strategic management, and business simulation game. He received a Ph.D. in International Business at Korea University Business School. He also has working experience in various firms, including multinational corporations.

Masahiro Kotosaka

Masahiro Kotosaka is an Associate Professor at Keio University. He is an expert in strategy and early-stage business development, and an advisor to several global start-up/multinational companies. He graduated from the University of Oxford with D.Phil. in Management Studies and M.Sc. in Management Research with Distinction.

Franz Waldenberger

Franz Waldenberger is Director of the German Institute for Japanese Studies in Tokyo. His research focuses on the Japanese economy, corporate governance, global management, and the impact of the digital transformation.

Leven J. Zheng

Leven J. Zheng is an Assistant Professor in Management at Department of Global Business and Marketing, Hong Kong Metropolitan University. Leven was awarded a Ph.D. in Management Studies from the Management School at the University of Liverpool. His research examines entrepreneurship and innovation at both privately entrepreneurial and newly public stages of entrepreneurial firms, with a particular focus on new product development and firm growth. His research appears in some good-quality international journals such as Journal of Business Research, Technovation, Technological Forecasting & Social Change, and Asian Business & Management.